Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

They walked for some time before the Tiger hurried up, so Alex had to run to catch up. The sticky Elixir beneath his feet reminded him that he should gather some of these directly as well. As good as the fruit was, there was only so much of it, and the Elixir could be given to so many other people too.

After rushing for some time, the Tiger finally came to a stop in a section of the island where the roots grew around a piece of land, seemingly ignoring it for some reason.

The spot was about 20 to 30 meters in diameter, with hard-packed dirt on it rather than sandy beach like it was in the other places. Nothing grew on it still, but that seemed to have less to do with the land itself and more to do with the lack of sunlight.

“What is this place?” Alex asked curiously.

“Dig there, at the center,” the Tiger said.

“Dig?” Alex asked, and the Tiger nodded.

Alex didn’t question the Primordial. He grew curious where he had been brought to and began digging. The ground was soft enough for him, so he dug away the dirt by hand. He dug for a while without stopping until his hand struck something hard.

“There’s something here,” he said, turning back toward the Tiger.

“Continue,” the Tiger said.

Alex couldn’t yet see what he had hit. He thought for a moment that it could’ve just been the tree’s root, but it didn’t look the part. He did as the Tiger said and began digging around the object he had found. He slowly moved away from the spot, digging more and more of it away as he began to realize that the object there was massive.

After digging for a while, Alex dug onto something that made his heart skip a bit.

The massive object he had found ended on a clump with four sharp spurs growing at the end. It took him no time to tell that they were bone spurs.

He stepped back, looking at the entire thing, and it became clear that it was no ordinary bone spurs at all. The four sharp bones were part of the claw.

The claw of a Tiger.

Alex spun his head toward the Tiger, his eyes widening before he could even ask the question. “Senior… is this…”

“My body,” the Tiger said. “Or depending on what you count me as, my corpse.”

Alex jumped back on top of the root high up to look down at the place he had dug. The entire open ground was just enough for the Guardian Tiger’s one arm. The rest of its body was somewhere underneath.

The corpse of a Primordial lay before Alex, a stunning sight he hadn’t expected to see when the Tiger brought him here.

“When you said you wished to give Pearl a gift, did you mean your body?” Alex asked.

“I’m dead, so I have no use of my body. I never considered doing anything with it, but your bonded beast is strong. Should this have been the era I come from, I would’ve been more than certain he would become a Primordial as well. As such, I cannot imagine anyone else to make use of my body.”

Alex stood there for a while, taking in the Tiger’s words.

“What can Pearl do with this?” he asked. “Can he make use of your blood aura through your body? Or is your Beast Core somewhere here for Pearl to consume?”

“Neither,” the Tiger said. “I died long enough ago that my blood aura could not survive. Similarly, my Beast Core is no longer here either. It might’ve survived had I not promised to look after her. My duty to the tree caused the spirit within my Beast Core to be born, which is what I am now.”

Alex frowned. “Then what do you want Pearl to do with your body?”

“My body still holds my aura,” the Tiger said. “It’s weak, but you don’t need much to start with. So long as that White Tiger has my aura, he can absorb it into his Origin.”

The moment the Guardian Tiger said as much, Alex realized what he wanted.

“You want Pearl’s Creation to be… a Guardian Tiger?” he asked.

The Tiger smiled. “Took you long enough to catch on,” it said. “I cannot give you all of my corpse, but you may take just the arm and let Pearl make use of it. That way, my lineage could perhaps continue once again.”

The ground shuddered before them as the arm lifted out of the ground, now free of the dirt. The tendons and muscles that kept the bones in place had long since deteriorated, so the arm came off easily.

The arm was dark, lacking any fur. The muscle had mostly rotted as well, but the bones were pristine. Pearl could use the aura in those to fuel his Origin.

The arm arrived before Alex and he looked at it closely for a moment before placing it into his storage bag.

“Have the White Tiger absorb the aura from this as soon as he can,” the Tiger said. “When he has successfully formed his spirit, use the arm however you may wish to use it.”

Alex considered for a moment if he should do the same as well. He had 8 Origins anyway, so he could likely spare a few for a Primordial, surely.

’But if it was good, the Tiger would’ve likely suggested it,’ Alex thought. It had said that the best thing that Alex could get as his Creation no longer existed. And the second-best thing was right in his Soul Space.

So, it did not matter what else he got when he was getting the best available from the start.

The dirt around the remaining corpse was packed back in, and the Tiger turned toward Alex.

“We’re done here. Let us return.”

Alex nodded, keeping his storage bag safe. He couldn’t wait to tell Pearl the good news once he was away from this place.